I've been banging on about wanting a Tenkeyless mechanical gaming k/board with macros, on a few of the recent mech keyboard reviews, but I'd being unable to find exactly what I wanted, now at last I've found the board I want, unfortunately, I can only find it for sale at Newegg and they don't export so I can't buy one yet The board is the AORUS Thunder K7 Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry Reds, the keyboard is said to be the "world's first detachable mechanical gaming keyboard" with its 80/20 split between main keyboard and macro/numpad with 20 customisable macro keys which also allow on-the-fly programming. AORUS also suggests that it can be detached to provide FPS gamers a compact keyboard with full sized keys. I'm not left handed but imagine that being able to reposition the macro/numpad might also be useful for those that are. skip to 5:00mins for k/board I started a new thread for this rather than post in the huge 'Mechanical Keyboards' thread as I thought that anyone specifically looking for a left handed/ambidextrous board would find it quicker but if a mod considers it would be better off there feel free to move it.
Correct me if i'm wrong - you want a TKL board with macros - yet you've posted a full size board with a numpad that can go on either side? To me that's not a tkl with macros..... If you want to go down that route - get a decent tkl and then get a decent programmable pad, QWERkeys are considering selling some 24 and 36 key 8 layer pads. Plus that keyboard looks horrible and also looks like it's made by iOne, so it won't be tremendous quality. Get an acrylic case and a NERD tkl pcb from here http://www.gonskeyboardworks.com/ build you own awesome keyboard that supports macros and is fully programmable.
I want a TKL board so hands are closer together, purely for comfort reasons, nothing to do with aesthetics, plus I want a block of macros like many gaming boards have, not 3 or 4 I want at least 12 to replace the F1-F12 keys that are often used in games, like Skyrim where I use them all. Maybe you didn't read all of the description but the the numpad on this board doubles up as customisable macro keys, 20 keys, 5 gaming profiles, which can be mounted on the left side of the board so still keeping the hands close together, (assuming you use the mouse with right hand) hence, a TLK board with macros. Aorus is a sub-brand of Gigabyte so I doubt they have anything to do with iOne, the AORUS name might not be that familiar but their products are winning many awards including "Best of Computex Awards 2014" so I'm not too concerned about build quality. Looks are a personal preference, to me many mech boards that people rave about are plain fugly, each to their own.
iOne manufacture for the world and his dog in the Mech keyboard world, so I wouldn't be surprised if Gigabyte engage iOne to manufacture their boards
I know Auros is a sub-brand of gigabyte, as they've had a couple of mech's out - but as far as I know, Gigabyte don't OEM their keyboards. I don't understand how a TKL will make your hands closer together, especially not if you are actually going to use the numpad - which you are, for macros. TKL doesn't make your hands closer together - how you type dictates what your hands do, and what you want to press. If you are going to be using the "numpad" (in this instance macro block or whatever you want to call it) then it negates your desire to have a tkl board with macros. I have a TKL board, that I can make any switch on it, a macro. I can make any switch on it be whatever I want. And it has just 86 switches. To me - that's a TKL that does macro's. It also has function layers, so you can have everything as it should be and stick macros on a fn layer - happy days.
It's a gaming board for my gaming rig, I won't be typing on it. When the board is TKL the distance between your hand on the W,A,S,D keys ( where my left hand spends most of it's time) and your mouse hand is reduced, and as the board sits further to the right because it's TKL, the pad of macro keys on the left side are just where I want them, I prefer the macros in a block not assigned to the Qwerty keys, don't worry about it if you don't understand that, it's just the way I like it, like I said 'Each to their own'.
